Dublin 01
"Diamonds"}} The first edition of Golden Stars Vision will take place in Dublin, Ireland. Originally, only 20 countries were intended to take part in the first edition, however, 41 countries took part in the edition. Each Head of Delegation were given a random country to take part in the contest with. From edition 2 onwards, the Heads of Delegation will be able to select whether to keep their country from the previous edition or have a new random country. Barbados won the first edition, scoring 191 points. They were represented by Rihanna 'with her song, '"Diamonds". Barbados is, to date, the only country to have won the contest on their debut. Sweden and Spain completed the top 3, scoring 167 and 156 points respectively. Host country, Ireland, finished 9th place with 113 points, which currently remains the best position for a host country in a final. Location The host country for edition 1 of Golden Stars Vision was randomly selected from the 41 competing countries. The randomly selected country was Ireland. The Irish Head of Delegation then got the opportunity to select the host city, which they selected would be Dublin. Venue The 3Arena '''is an indoor amphitheatre located at North Wall Quay in the Dublin Docklands in Dublin, Ireland. The capacity of the arena is 13,000 and it was opened on 16 December 2008. The 3Arena was built on the site of the former Point Theatre, which played host to three Eurovision Song Contests during the 1990s. The arena has played host to many concerts by artists such as U2 (who were the first band to play in the arena), Guns N' Roses, Britney Spears and Lily Allen. '''Host city '''Dublin '''is the capital of and largest city in Ireland. It is located in the province of Leinster on the east coast of Ireland, at the mouth of the River Liffey and bordered on the south by the Wicklow Mountains. The city has an urban area population of over 1.173 million people. The Lord Mayor of the city is Nial Ring. Dublin has many landmarks and monuments dating back hundreds of years. One of the oldest of these landmarks is Dublin Castle, which was first founded as a major defensive work on the orders of England's King John in 1204, shortly after the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169. One of Dublin's newest monuments however, is the Spire of Dublin, or officially titled "Monument of Light". The 121.2-metre conical spire made of stainless steel was completed on 21 January 2003, and is intended to mark Dublin's place in the 21st century. Other landmarks include the Mansion House, the Anna Livia monument, the Molly Malone statue, Christ Church Cathedral and St Patrick's Cathedral. Dublin is also twinned with five cities - San Jose and Emmetsburg in the United States, Liverpool in the United Kingdom, Barcelona in Spain and Beijing in China. Format The format for edition 1 was planned to have just one grand final with 20 countries, however as there was much more interest in the contest than expected, and it was impossible to hold just one grand final with 41 countries, semi-finals were introduced into the contest. Each semi-final consisted of 20 songs, with 10 songs from each semi-final qualifying for the final. After the results of the second semi-final were announced, another 4 countries were saved from the 20 non-qualifiers to progress to the final. Two of the countries were selected through "Staff Choice" which gave the host country, Ireland and the contest founder's country, Comoros, a chance to each save one non-qualifier which they thought deserved a place in the final. Two random qualifying countries, one from each-semi final, were then also given the chance to each save a non-qualifier from their semi-final that they thought deserved to make the final - this was called "Qualifiers Choice". These 4 countries then joined the 20 qualifiers and host country, Ireland, in the final. Semi-Final 1 The first semi-final took place on 28 July 2018. Twenty countries participated in this semi-final. The results were announced the following day. The highlighted countries qualified for the final - orange indicates the country was a direct qualifier (finished in the top 10) and yellow indicates the country was either saved through the "Staff Choice" or "Qualifiers Choice". Semi-Final 2 The second semi-final took place on 29 July 2018. Twenty countries participated in this semi-final. The results were announced on 2 August 2018. The highlighted countries qualified for the final - orange indicates the country was a direct qualifier (finished in the top 10) and yellow indicates the country was either saved through the "Staff Choice" or "Qualifiers Choice". Staff & Qualifiers Choice "Staff Choice" allowed both host country Ireland and the contest founder's country Comoros to save their favourite non-qualifier from either semi=final, allowing it to advance to the final. "Qualifiers Choice" then allowed two random qualifiers (one from each semi-final) to save one country that didn't qualify in their semi-final and take them through to the final. The two countries saved by "Qualifiers Choice" were announced directly after the results of their respective semi-finals, with the "Staff Choice" qualifiers being announced on 2 August 2018. Grand Final The grand final took place on 2 August 2018. Twenty-five countries participated, 10 qualifying from each semi-final, two qualifying through Staff Choice, two qualifying through Qualifiers Choice and the host country, Ireland automatically qualifying. Barbados won with a total of 191 points, followed by Sweden and Spain who completed the top 3.